Holder for toilet paper



July 26, 1960 E. PENNEY 2,946,636

HOLDER FOR TOILET PAPER Filed July 18, 1958 3 Sheets-Sheet l .ygy, 1.

INVENTOE.

HTTOENE! July 26, 1960 E. PENNEY HOLDER FOR TOILET PAPER 3 Sheets-Sheet2 Filed July 18, 1958 KE A HTTOIENEQ' l N VE-IbT 0/2 July 26, 1960 E.PENNEY 2,946,636

' HOLDER FOR TOILET PAPER Filed July 1a, 1958 s Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOEB egzda dk QTTOENED United States HOLDER FOR TOILET PAPER Ernest Penney,Conister Market St., Whitworth, Rochdale, England This invention relatesto a new or improved holder for a bundle of toilet paper, which bundlemay be in the form of a roll or, alternatively, a pack of separatesheets.

The primary object of the invention is to provide a holder for toiletpaper which is especially adapted to preclude pilfering of a completebundle so that the holder is especially adapted for use in publicconveniences, factories, and the like.

Yet a further object of the present invention is to provide a holderwhich is adapted to accommodate a reserve bundle in addition to the oneactually in use.

A holder constructed in accordance with the present invention comprisesa housing adapted to support the bundle in its operative position, saidhousing being provided with a withdrawal opening and an insertionopening, the Withdrawal opening being small enough to precludewithdrawal of a substantially unused bundle whilst permitting withdrawalof individual sheets of paper, to gether with retaining means associatedwith saidhousing, said retaining means being adapted to permit insertionof a bundle into the housing through said insertion opening but topreclude the removal of such bundle from the interior of the housingthrough said insertion opening.

Said housing may extend to one side of the position at which itaccommodates the bundle actually in use sofas to provide a storage spaceadapted to contain a reserve bundle or pack, the arrangement being suchthat on exhaustion of the previously in use bundle the reserve bundlecan be displaced into its operative or in use position without it beingnecessary to remove it from the housing for that purpose.

Preferably the storage space aforesaid is disposed directly above thespace within the housing which accommodates the bundle in use, thearrangement being such that on exhaustion of the latter the .reservebundle in the form of a roll or pack can be displaced downwardly intoits in use position and with, such an arrangement means'would beprovided for releasably supporting such reserve bundle in its storageposition until required for use. Such supporting means would preferablycomprise one or more resilient fingers or the equivalent.

The retaining means referred to may also be constructed as one or moreresilient fingers which are adapted partially to extend across theinsertion opening to preclude the withdrawal of both bundles referredto, such resilient finger or fingers being displaceable into a positionallowing insertion of a bundle through the insertion opening.Alternatively, said retaining means may be in the form of a lid which ispivotally connected to the housing, there beingprovided catch meansdisposed within the interior of the housing and operable from suchinterior through an aperture provided either in the lid or the housing,the arrangement being that -when the reserve bundle is in its storageposition such aperture will be'covered by said reserve bundle so as toatent l ice prevent insertion of the fingers ortool through suchaperture in order to operate the catch means.

Where the housing is provided with'a lid as aforesaid, said lid may alsobe provided with an extension member or portion which lies within theinterior of the housing when the lid is closed so that it is closelyadjacent to a reserve bundle and precludes opening of the lid by reasonof such extension member or portion engaging said reserve bundle ifopening of the lid is attempted should said catch, for example,inadvertently be not engaged.

The withdrawal opening referred to may be formed to the reduced sizerequired merely by the provision of one or more bars or rollers whichextend thereacross so erture which will allow withdrawal of such spentbundle.

In yet a further construction one or more of said bars or rollers may bemounted in' a pair of slots disposed on opposite sides of the housing sothat the bar or roller can be displaced to one side' in order to permitof withdrawal of the spent bundle.

In one preferable embodiment the catch means re- .ferred to aboveincorporate a pivoted catch mounted on the interior of the housing,which catch is adapted to engage with a co-operating lug secured to thelid. Alternatively, the catch may be adapted to engage directly with apart of the lid or the extension member provided on the lid, the catchbeing weighted or counter-balanced so that it tends to assume the closedposition.

The housing is preferably provided with means whereby it can be securedto a wall' such as, for example, by providing one or more keyhole slotsat the back of the housing. Alternatively, the holder may be arranged tofit into a recess formed in the wall and be retained therein.

The invention will now be more particularly described with reference tothe accompanying drawings wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of one form of holder constructed inaccordance with the present invention.

Figure 2 is a perspective view of an alternative form of holder.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary vertical section of the holder shown in Figure1, the lid being shown in the closed 'position and the figure being on asomewhat smaller scale ance with the present invention, and

Figure 7 is a fragmentary perspective View showing a modified form ofcatch.

Referring now to Figure 1, a holder for a bundle of toilet papercomprises a housing 10 which is conveniently formed from sheet metalbent to a generally channel shaped configuration. Whilst a holderconstructed in accordance with the present invention is adapted to beused either with a roll or with a pack comprising. a plurality ofseparate sheets, the embodiments now to be described are particularlysuited for use with a roll. The front of such housing 10 is providedwith a plate 11 extending between the two sides of the housing and thereis also provided a lid 12 pivotally connected to the housing by means ofrod 13 and spring loaded by a coil spring 14, which tends to move thelid 12 into the open position.

' The holder incorporates an insertion opening which is disposed abovethe plate 11 and which is generally indicated by reference numeral 15and a withdrawal opening indicated by reference numeral 16 which isdisposed below said plate 11. t

The holder-is also provided internally with supporting means in the formof four resilient fingers 17, each formed of short lengths of springmaterial secured at their upper ends as by means of rivets to thehousing and plate 11. There are thus provided two pairs of suchresilient fingers 17, these being disposed opposite to each other so asto define between them a space through which a roll can be pushed, thefingers 17 deflecting downwards somewhat to allow of the roll beingpushed downwardly.

The lower part of the housing is provided with three rollers 18, eacharranged to rotate about fixed horizontal axes and the arrangement issuch that said rollers 18 are spaced so as to preclude withdrawal of anunused or substantially unused roll whilst at the same time permittingwithdrawal of individual sheets. The bottom of the holder is alsoprovided with an extension plate 19 and this is spaced from the threerollers 18 as aforesaid so that a spent roll can be withdrawn from theholder through the space existing between two adjacent rollers 18.

Associated with the insertion opening are retaining means in the form ofa pair of spaced spring loaded flaps 20 mounted on a common spindle 21movable independently of each other, each of said flaps 20 being biasedupwardly by a spring 22 so as to bring it into contact with a stop 23.Thus the arrangement is such that a roll of paper can be insertedthrough the insertion opening 15 when the lid 12 is open and pusheddownwardly past the pair of flaps 20 which are thus depressed downwardlyto allow such downward movement of the roll. Once the roll has movedpast the flaps 20, said flaps spring upwardly to retain the roll in astorage position in which it is supported on the aforementionedresilient fingers 17. In this case the roll in use would be supported bythe three rollers 18 but when the latter is exhausted the upper orstorage roll would be moved downwardly into the in use position by meansof pressure applied to the upper side thereof through an aperture 24provided for that purpose in the lid 12.

As will be seen in Figures 1 and 3, the lid 12 is provided withadditional retaining means in the form of an extension member or portion25 which extends on the opposite side of the rod 13 from the lid itselfand which is adapted to be brought into engagement with a stop 26 whenthe lid is in its open position so as to limit such opening movement.Said portion 25 extends into the interior of the housing and is adaptedto engage with a roll or pack disposed in the upper part of the housingso as to prevent opening of the lid and withdrawal of such roll or pack.The lid is also provided with a pair of side plates 27 for additionalsecurity.

In order to retain the lid in a closed position there is provided catchmeans in the form of a pivoted catch 28 (see Figures 1 and 3) whichcatch 28 is mounted in the interior of the housing and has a portion 29which is adapted to engage with a part of said extension member 25. Thecatch 28 is weighted so that said portion 29 will normally be disposedin the retaining position in which it engages the extension member 25.Thus to release the catch and open the lid the fingers have to beinserted through an aperture 30 in the plate 11 so as to lift theportion 31 of the catch and thus depress portion 29 to free theextension member 25 and allow the lid to spring into its open position.It will be understood that it is not possible to obtain access to thecatch 28 whilst a reserve roll is in position as the aperture 30 will becovered thereby. Furthermore, if the catch 28 should not be properlyengaged when the lid 12 is shut, the extension member 25 will engagewith one side of such reserve roll and prevent the lid from opening.Additional security is, of course, also provided by the pair of spacedflaps 20 which act in the manner of a valve, allowing insertion of aroll into the holder but preventing or reducing the possibility of theroll being withdrawn through such insertion opening. When the roll inuse has been exhausted and the reserve roll pushed downwardly to the inuse position the catch 28 can, of course, be operated so as to open thelid 12 but in this case the resilient fingers 17 will prevent upwardremoval of the roll, which now lies beneath said fingers 17.

The alternative arrangement shown in Figures 2 and 4 of the drawings isgenerally similar to the arrangement shown in Figures 1 and 3 exceptthat the catch means and resilient fingers adapted to support thereserve roll are somewhat different. Thus, referring to Figures 2 and 4,the catch means now comprise a catch 32 having a hooklike end 33 whichis adapted to engage with a lug 34 which is secured to the lid 35. Suchcatch 32 may be pivoted by inserting the fingers through the aperture 36provided in the lid when there is no reserve roll in position, saidaperture 36 being used also for the purpose of applying pressure to sucha reserve roll when in position in order to force it downwardly to thein use position.

The resilient fingers each comprise a pair of tongues 37 and 38, thelower tongue 38 providing additonal security against anyone attemptingto apply pressure from the bottom of the holder so as to force a rollback against such resilient tongue. The lid 35 is also pro vided with anextension member 39 and the holder has a pair of keyhole slots 40, bymeans of which it can be hung on a wall. Other features of the holderand its mode of operation are generally as described with reference toFigures 1 and 3.

With the two forms of holder previously described the spent roll at thebottom of the holder is withdrawn through the space existing between apair of adjacent rollers 18. With the alternative arrangement shown inFigure 5 one side of the housing is provided with an aperture 41 throughwhich the spent roll can be withdrawn, it being understood that suchaperture is of a size small enough to preclude withdrawal of an unusedor substantially unused roll.

In the further alternative arrangement shown in Figure 6, one of therollers 18 is mounted on a spindle which is arranged between a pair ofelongated slots 42 cut in opposite sides of the housing so that theroller can be displaced laterally in order once more to allow ofwithdrawal of a spent roll. Other details of the holders shown inFigures 5 and 6 may be as previously described.

In Figure 7 there is shown a modified form of catch means, the extensionplate 43 of the lid being cut away at one side as indicated by referencenumeral 44 so that the underside of the portion 45 of the catch can beborught into contact with the upper side of the portion 46 of suchextension plate 43 when the lid is in its closed position.

Thus, in all the above described embodiments there is provided a holderwhich is adapted to preclude pilfering of a roll of toilet paper,whilst, at the same time, provision is made for the storage of a reserveroll. It is also to be understood that more than one reserve roll may beprovided, if desired, without departing from the spirit of theinvention.

What I claim then is:

1. In a toilet paper holder comprising a reserve compartment and a maincompartment located in a housing having means for supporting bundles ofpaper in the respective compartments, releasable means for displacing abundle from the reserve compartment into the main compartment andprevent the displacement of a bundle from the main compartment into thereserve compartment, said housing having an insertion openingcommunicating with the reserve compartment, and a lid closing saidinsertion opening, catch means located in said reserve compartment, saidcatch means being positioned to engage with said lid to retain said lidin the closed position and means operably associated with said catchmeans located in a position such as to be obstructed by a bundle ofpaper in the reserve compartment to maintain the catch means in theretaining position until the bundle has been displaced from the reservecompartment into the main compartment.

2. A toilet paper holder comprising a housing, retaining means dividingthe interior of said housing into a main compartment and a reservecompartment, said retaining means permitting transfer of a bundle ofsaid paper from said reserve compartment into said main compartment andpreventing reverse directional transfer of said paper from said maincompartment into said reserve compartment, a lid hinged to said housingand adapted to mask an insertion opening communicating with the reservecompartment, said housing having a withdrawal opening communicating withthe main compartment which is sufliciently small to preclude thewithdrawal of a substantially unused bundle therefrom, but permittingwithdrawal of individual sheets therethrough, catch means for securingthe lid in a position masking said opening, said catch means beinglocated in the re serve compartment, and associated means to releasesaid catch means and free said lid for opening when said reservecompartment is empty.

3. A toilet paper holder comprising a housing which is divided intocompartments, each adapted to receive a bundle of toilet paper and whichincludes a lid hinged to said housing, an extension portion secured tosaid lid and projecting from the latter into one of the compartments, acatch pivoted to said housing and located in said one compartment, oneend of said catch co-operating with said extension portion to preventmovement of said lid, said housing having an aperture to permit accessto be had to the catch to pivot same clear of said extension portion andenable the lid to be opened, spring means for retaining a first bundleof toilet paper in the said one compartment to mask said aperture andprevent access to said catch while said first bundle remains therein,and said lid having an aperture to permit access to be had to said firstbundle to permit same to be forced past said spring means into the othersaid compartment. 7

4. A holder as claimed in claim 3 wherein said spring means comprisefingers which are deflected by the passage of a bundle from the onecompartment to the other, and are inclined towards said othercompartment so that passage of a bundle in the reverse direction isprevented.

5. A holder as claimed in claim 3 wherein the housing is provided withspring loaded flaps associated with an opening through which bundles areinserted into the housing, which opening is closed by said lid.

6. A holder as claimed in claim 3 wherein the lid is spring loaded so asto open automatically when the catch is pivoted clear of the extensionand wherein said extension swings, as the lid is pivoted open, throughthe space which is adapted to be occupied by a reserve bundle.

7. A holder as claimed in claim 3 wherein said catch is weighted so thatit swings to a lid securing position.

8. A holder as claimed in claim 7 wherein the lid extension is cut awayat one side and said catch co-operates with the extension adjacent thecut.

9. A holder for at least two bundles of toilet paper comprising a boxhaving an open top and an open bottom, a number of rollers extendingacross said bottom to support a bundle which may be inserted into a maincompartment formed by the lower portion of said box, a number of springblades secured to opposite front and back walls of the box and inclinedtowards the bottom of the box, said blades separating the maincompartment from a reserve compartment formed in the top of the box,being adapted to deflect towards the walls of the box to permit a bundleto be displaced past said deflected blades from the reserve compartmentto the main compartment but being adapted to deflect to or towardspositions normal to the said walls as an attempt is made to displace abundle in the opposite direction, so as to prevent such displacement, alid hinged to said back wall at the open top of said box, said lidhaving an extension flap which extends into the box parallel with saidback wall when the lid is in a closed position, said flap and lid beingadapted to lie upon opposite sides of the reserve bundle supported onsaid blades, said lid having an aperture therein to permit saiddisplacement, and cooperating catch means on said lid and in saidreserve compartment which means may be released when said reservecompartment is empty but which cannot be reached when a reserve bundleis in said reserve compartment, said catch means when engaged preventingopening of said lid.

10. A holder as claimed in claim 9 wherein said catch means comprise ahooked member on said lid and a cooperating hook formed at one end of alever pivoted to a side wall of said box and weighted so as to swinginto the engaging position.

11. A holder as claimed in claim 9 wherein said blades are mounted inoverlapping pairs, the blades of each pair being inclined at differentangles to the adjacent wall of the box.

12. A holder as claimed in claim 9 wherein two of said rollers arejournalled about fixed axes which are guided in slots formed in the boxwalls.

13. A holder as claimed in claim 9 wherein two rollers are provided inthe side Wall of the box adjacent the rollers, is apertured.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS461,209 Olds Oct. 13, 1891 993,416 Scott May 30, 1911 1,661,357 BoivinMar. 6, 1928 2,307,994 Clemens Jan. 12, 1943 2,605,975 Page et al Aug.5, 1952 2,839,346 Lawalin June -17, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS 7 1,066,968France Jan. 27, 1954

